Burgos

Burgos (Spanish: [ˈbuɾɣos] ^ⓘ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León in Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Burgos, and with a population of 176,551, also the largest city in the province, and the 37th-largest in Spain.

Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries and at the edge of the central plateau. The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route runs through Burgos.

Founded in 885 by the second Count of Castile, Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Burgos soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castile. The 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) had connections with the city: born near Burgos, he was raised and educated there. Burgos experienced a long decline from the 17th century onwards.

Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government (1936–1939) following the start of the Spanish Civil War. Declared in 1964 as Pole of Industrial Promotion and in 1969 as Pole of Industrial Development, the city has grown since then in terms of economic activity. At the regional level, Burgos forms part of an economic axis together with the cities of Valladolid and Palencia. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to service commercial flights.

The Museum of Human Evolution opened in Burgos in 2010. It features remains of the first hominids in Europe, who lived in the area 750,000–800,000 years ago. The Cathedral of Burgos is a World Heritage Site. Burgos was selected as the "Spanish Gastronomy Capital" of 2013. In 2015 UNESCO named it "City of Gastronomy", and it has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.

There are several possible origins for the toponymy. When the city was founded, the inhabitants of the surrounding country moved into the fortified village, whose Visigothic name of Burgos signified consolidated walled villages^{[citation needed]} (Gothic baurgs). The cities Burgas in Bulgaria and numerous cities containing the Germanic burg "city" such as Hamburg have a similar literal composition. The city began to be called Caput Castellae ("Cabeza de Castilla" or "Head of Castile").

Early humans occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800,000 years ago. When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos, the site had been a Celtic city. In Roman times, it belonged to Hispania Citerior ("Hither Spain") and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. In the 5th century, the Visigoths drove back the Suebi, then the Berbers occupied almost all of Castile in the 8th century, though only for a very brief period, and left little if any trace of their occupation. King Alfonso III the Great of León reconquered it about the middle of the 9th century, and built several castles for the defence of Christendom, which was then extended through the reconquest of lost territory. The region came to be known as Castile (Latin castella), i.e. "(land of) castles".

Burgos was founded in 884 as an outpost of this expanding Christian frontier, when Diego Rodríguez "Porcelos", count of Castile, governed this territory with orders to promote the increase of the Christian population; with this end in view he gathered the inhabitants of the surrounding country into one fortified village. The city began to be called Caput Castellae ("Cabeza de Castilla" or "Head of Castile"). The county (condado) of Castile, subject to the Kings of León, continued to be governed by counts and was gradually extended; one of these counts, Fernán González, established his independence.